Mike Gundy and the Oklahoma State football program have been one of the pillars of consistency in college football over the last few years. The Cowboys endured a miserable 2025 season that began with many high hopes and expectations. They failed to appear in a bowl game for only the second time during Gundy's tenure in Stillwater.
The Cowboys began last season with three straight wins, including a massive 39-31 double overtime victory over Arkansas. But that was all the success that Oklahoma State would claim as they ended their season losing their final nine contests, including getting run off the field and shut out by Colorado 52-0 in the season finale.
Gundy made massive changes to his coaching staff in the offseason. His first change was to bring Doug Meacham back to Stillwater as the Offensive Coordinator. Meacham returns to Oklahoma State after being on Gundy's staff from 2005-2012. He spent the last four seasons as an offensive assistant at TCU.
The offense is full of youth and inexperience, as the Cowboys do not have a returning starter on that side of the ball. The quarterback position is still up for grabs as Zane Flores and Hauss Hejny, who followed Meacham to Stillwater from TCU. They will have their work cut out for them as neither one has completed a collegiate pass. Whoever ends up as the starting quarterback will have two steady running backs alongside him in Rodney Fields Jr and Trent Howland, along with tight end Josh Ford, who hopes to elevate his production entering his sophomore season.
Todd Grantham is the man in charge of the Cowboy defense, and he brings a ton of experience to a defense that was one of the worst in the nation in 2024. Grantham spent the last two seasons as the Defensive line coach for the New Orleans Saints. He has spent time as the Defensive Coordinator at programs like Florida, Georgia, and Louisville.
Unlike the offense, the defense has three returners who have played a game for Oklahoma State. Cameron Epps and David Kabongo are one of the few known entities for the Cowboys' defense. Epps only managed 11 tackles last season after a quite productive 2023 campaign where he had 40 tackles and three interceptions. A three-headed monster of transfer defensive linemen De'Marion Thomas, Kyran Duhon, and returner Iman Oates looks to create havoc along the line of scrimmage as the Cowboys look to return to their winning ways in 2025.